I would like to second this suggestion, specifically the brick making.
I would love to use foundries as a souped up furnace for making bricks from stone.
Either:
• stone brick = stone (basic normal recipe, just a fair amount faster than Electric smelters,
Or, for a bit of balance:
• stone brick = stone + 2nd solid ingredient, ie. carbon or calcite.
• stone brick = stone + fluid ingredient, ie. lava.